BOX OFFICE: Bombing 'Scott Pilgrim' plummets; 'Expendables' rolls on

By
Michael Cavna

"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" can now look at the box-office pecking order and realize its biggest mistake: Apparently the film should have written in an eighth villain -- say, Ramona's butt-kicking father -- and that final baddie should have been played by one man and one man only: Sylvester Stallone.

In the climate of the August multiplex, what else could have saved this clever, inventive and massively marketed film?

Last week, "Scott Pilgrim's" debut was a disappointment. Now, two weekends in, the film can fairly be called a box-office "bob-omb." Edgar Wright's movie, based on Bryan O'Malley's graphic novel series, made a mere $5-million domestically in its second weekend to tank at 10th place, and has now grossed a meager $20.7-million, according to studio estimates.

For the second straight weekend, Stallone's "The Expendables" was the champ, taking in $16.5-million. The film -- which features a crew of such aging action-hero actors as Jason Statham, Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger -- has now grossed $64.9-million domestically, according to boxofficemojo.com.

In its debut, the "Twilight" parody film "Vampires Suck" grossed $12.2-million to finish second for the weekend and has made $18.6-million since its midweek opening -- or nearly as much as "Scott Pilgrim's" entire tally. And who would have predicted that?

"Scott Pilgrim," which has a reported budget of $60-million, finished just one spot ahead above the animated hit "Despicable Me," which grossed $4.34-million and has now earned $230-million domestically. Among other animated films, "Toy Story 3" ($403-million) moved past "Spider-Man" and is now the ninth biggest film ever in terms of domestic gross.

Also debuting this weekend were "Lottery Ticket" (fourth with $11.1-million) and "Piranha 3D" (sixth with $10-million).

And if there's one other thing to be gleaned from box-office trends, perhaps it's this: It shouldn't be long before we see a proposal for a new project -- "The Expendables: The Comic Book."